1. Technical Field
This invention relates to driver controlled wedge and track bar adjustors for use in racing vehicles, particularly those used in NASCAR.
2. Background Art
Car racing is a very precise operation. Cars perform differently depending on many different factors including the tires, the temperature of the track, how the weight is positioned in the vehicle and even the angle of the rear axle with respect to the front axle and the like. Many of these factors can be altered by the pit crew during stops in the race.
In racing, cars are often described as either tight or loose. The front wheels of a tight car lose traction before the rear wheels do. A tight car does not steer sharply enough on the turns and continues toward the wall. In a loose car, the rear tires of the car have trouble sticking in the turns. This causes loose cars to slip and fishtail.
How loose or tight a car is depends on many factors that can be altered in a pit stop during the race. Two common alterations made to vehicles during pit stops include track bar adjustments and wedge adjustments. Wedge refers to the relationship from corner-to-corner of the weight of the race vehicle. Increasing the weight on any corner of the vehicle affects the weight on the other three corners in direct proportion. A typical adjustment for a “loose” car would be to increase the weight of the left rear corner of the vehicle, which decreases the weight of the left front and right rear corners, and increases the weight of the right front. A typical adjustment for a “tight” vehicle would be to increase the weight of the right rear corner, which decreases the weight of the right front and left rear and increases the weight of the left front. Wedge adjustments are made by turning weight jacking screws mounted on each corner of the vehicle with a ratchet.
The track bar locates the vehicle's rear end housing from left-to-right. Raising or lowering the track bar changes the rear roll center and determines how well the car will travel through the corners. Typically, lowering the track bar will “tighten” the vehicle and raising the track bar will “loosen” it. The track bar is conventionally adjusted through the rear window of the vehicle using an extended ratchet.
During a race, cars are adjusted during pit stops. The cars are then sent back out on the track for another 40 or 50 miles or more before there is another pit stop. This means that if the adjustment did not fix the problem the car was having, or if the adjustment created a problem, then the driver has to try and cope with the problem until the next pit stop. This often results in wrecks that can destroy several cars and may even take the lives of the drivers.
Accordingly, what is needed are improvements in wedge and track bar adjustors for race cars that enable increased frequency of adjustment without the significant loss of time attributed to pit stops.